Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast OMF Billions Audio

Serving overseas reshapes family life in unexpected ways. Working with OMF in Japan since 2017, John Timothy shares his experience of fatherhood in cross-cultural ministry – the joys, pressures and the faithfulness of God along the way.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Richard, a worker serving in East Asia who has just finished four years serving with OMF.  Richard wrestled with many questions as he sought to understand fruitfulness in this season of life and ministry. Listen to discover what he found out.

Meet Adam. Based in rural Hirosaki, Japan, he fulfills many roles alongside language learning. Listen to find out more about what he does, and the challenges he faces being a single missionary.

In 1885, the China Inland Mission recruited seven remarkable upper-class young men in Cambridge who left behind prospects of international cricket, army service, the enjoyment of large estates, ecclesiastical advancement and commercial success to preach the gospel in China.  In 1975 OMF asked for single men willing to go into Cambodia to minister in a time of revival whilst the Khmer Rouge were advancing on Phnom Penh. Men were found. They went and ministered.

Listen here to find out more.

Can I really make a difference if I don’t go long‑term?

Ben, a senior waste management consultant based in the UK, wrestled with this question. For nearly 10 years, Ben has found great joy and satisfaction in offering his time and skills to God in Mongolia through short-term mission.

Listen now to find out more.

Little Nam watched longingly as foreign missionaries passed her family shop in Tak province, on their way to share the gospel with hill tribespeople. She wished they would stop and talk to her about Jesus. Later, she accessed a postal Bible course, and much later when she was a business-woman selling Thai silk, a client-friend invited her to church, and Nam believed in the Lord.

Listen to Re-Tyring and Returning to find out more about her story, and how God has opened up opportunities for Thai ministries in the UK.

Our OMF UK office moved to Manchester this autumn. Listen to find out some of the mission initiatives in the city.

Many people are on the move from one place to another and one country to another. What is God doing through this movement? He is increasing opportunities for the good news of Jesus. Hear from Ian Prescott, OMF Beyond Boarders Champion, as he talks about three ways God is doing this.

Want to help your church to grow as an intercultural community? Here are 12 ideas from the OMF (UK) Intercultural Ministries team to get you started.

When people hear that I am developing OMF UK and Ireland’s intercultural ministries, I am often asked: how is this relevant to our vision, mission and values? Isn’t it just another passing fad that we are latching on to?

Listen to find out about Intercultural Ministry. Why we do it, and why it's vital to our work.

Over 150,000 Hong Kongers have moved to the UK since January 2021. For many, a warm welcome from a local church has opened the door to friendship and faith. Yan and Mina from Welcome Churches tell us more.

Although Joey and YuRa grew up in the USA, where their parents became Christians, their families’ roots are in China and Korea respectively. As they explain, OMF’s Beyond Borders short-term mission placement in Dublin last summer gave them space to explore how God might use them in the future.

For many who move to the UK, there is much to learn and a new culture to get used to. For Geoff, he wondered how he could continue to Serve God here. After being welcomed into a church, he discovered some of what God had in store for him. Listen to find out more.

Are you interested in seeing the UK Church become increasingly intercultural, and have a heart for people of every nation to come to know the Lord as their Saviour? Check out what opportunities we have and get involved with our Intercultural Ministries team.

Earlier this year on the Serve Asia Podcast we explored intercultural church across a four-part series, bringing together a range of voices from around the UK and Ireland Church. Here's a taste of our conversations.

Resourcing and sending cross-cultural workers to Japan continues to be a necessary part of God's global plan. For many years now, the Lord has also been enabling the Japanese Church to send workers to other nations. A third exciting strand is the growth of intercultural mission within Japan - recognising the many opportunities to introduce people of all nationalities to Jesus there too. Listen to find out more about this work from Laura-Jane.

Over the past 18 months, Intercultural Ministries Director Nathaniel Jennings has put together a course on how Churches can be equipped to faithfully and fruitfully share the good news of Jesus with people from different nations and cultures who live around them. Listen to find out more details on what this course entails, and where to find it yourself.

In five years’ time, half of Japan’s Protestant churches may have closed.

That’s the stark message from Christians there facing the reality of an ageing population and Church. So what does the future hold for the Church in Japan?

To find out more, we spoke to Kenji Kondo, a Japanese missionary with Operation Mobilisation and advocate for church collaboration and Pastor Nakanishi, who leads one of the first churches planted by OMF in Japan.

Read the article.

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Chris Pain, Japan Field Director, gives us an update on what has happened since OMF Japan published the results of their research ‘Church Planting and Partnering in Japan: Learning from Pastors’ and Missionaries’ Perspectives’ in both English and Japanese in late 2022.

Listen in to find out more.

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Audio of the article 'Roots and Fruit' in Billions magazine May-August 2025, Crossing Japan.

Read the article at https://omf.org/uk/billions/articles/when-ministry-feels-fruitless-persevering-in-gospel-work-in-japan/

Read more content from the edition: https://omf.org/uk/resources/billions/?_filter_by_year=2025&_filter_by_month=may-august

‘How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?’ (Romans 10:14).

When Chris Pain read these words as a student in the UK, his immediate response was ‘Lord, I’ll go to Japan.’

Keep listening to hear the joys and challenges of mission work in Japan, as well as the opportunities there are to share the gospel.

Have you ever considered moving to Japan?

For Vietnamese people it’s become the top destination for workers, admired for its safety and appeal. According to the Japanese government, there were 518,350 Vietnamese people working in Japan by October 2023. That number keeps growing as many Vietnamese move overseas to study, work, and pursue their dreams.

What is God doing through this movement of Vietnamese to Japan?

When a new OMF worker arrives in Japan– somewhere they have prayed and dreamt about– the reality sets in. Far from their friends and family, this is now their home. A language they can’t yet understand fills their ears, and a new range of food awaits them as they enter the local supermarket.

Find out how Rosanne's role in Japan helps these new workers settle and find their feet in a new country.

‘You’ve got three people in church. Why don’t you just close up?’

‘If we do there’s no Christian presence in this town.’

OMF worker Steve Manders shares how this exchange with Japanese Christians in one shrinking town deeply challenged him. Listen to find out about the revitalisation project, and the stories they have to share.

If you ask a Japanese person living in Japan if they know a Christian, most of them will say no. But for many who have moved abroad, they have more opportunities to meet Christians and go to church. Keep listening to hear Richard East's story and find out some of the opportunities to share the gospel to your Japanese neighbours.

Meg, Rachel and Adam are some of the newest OMF (UK) workers in Japan. We caught up with them to see what they're up to and how they're getting on.

On her retirement, OMF Third Culture Kids Advisor Helen Lyttle asked for readers of the May 2022 edition of Billions magazine to pray that God would help her to find the best way to continue supporting and encouraging Third Culture Kids back in Northern Ireland.

Thank you for praying! We are delighted that Helen can now share how God has answered those prayers.

God gives different kinds of opportunities to serve him at each stage of life. We asked three short-term mission workers serving in different stages of life about their experiences and the blessings of serving across different generations.

Many churches have youth pastors, but fewer have someone dedicated to serving older people. Over the last few years, OMF worker Lucy Eastwood has been developing ministry to and with older people in Taiwan.

It’s often said the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow. It’s why OMF has been supporting student ministry in Thailand since the 1960s, a legacy Singaporean OMF worker Cherlyn Oh has been continuing with Thai Christian Students (TCS) since 2016. She has had the joy of seeing students grow in their faith while at university as well as how that time has prepared them to live for Jesus in whatever they do after graduation.

When I walk into the living room, my teenage daughter can sometimes be watching a TV show, listening to a podcast episode, scrolling on a social media site, sending a friend a text, or recording a voice note…and all whilst reading a book! 

Listen to this article by Paul Robinson as he shares the opportunities that putting God honouring content on media platforms can produce.

When we moved to Meishan, a small rural town at the foot of a mountain range in Taiwan, locals were curious—why would anyone choose to live here? We weren’t elderly or retiring, and had no relationships (“guan-xi”) in the area, they said.

Hear more of Kat's story here.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine January- April 2025: 'Generations of Faith'.

The children of OMF workers are an essential part of the family’s ministry. We asked two OMF (UK) children to share about their day-to-day life.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine January- April 2025: 'Generations of Faith'.

As a man in my mid-40s, I still remember and put to practice things others taught me about the Bible when I was a teenager. I pray that this would be true for the young people I work with in Taiwan as well.

Listen to find out about Nathan's work with youth in Taiwan. The encouragements and challenges, and how you can pray.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine January- April 2025: 'Generations of Faith'.

In Christ a worker God is revealed. Ancient religions and philosophies thought of God as static and indifferent, or as a kind of Eastern ruler made into a god, who lay lazily in his high heaven. Christ draws back in himself the curtain of heaven and shows a God in shirtsleeves, a God busy with the hard work of guiding the destiny of a world in which the sinful and rebellious will of people creates infinite problems and difficulties.

See what OMF are doing to advance the gospel within the workplace in East Asia.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠⁠https://omf.org/uk/resources/billions/

For many Filipinos in rural areas, cities are a place of hope for a better future. Sadly, they often end up living in difficult and dangerous conditions in slums, struggling to make ends meet and dealing with broken relationships, addictions and other issues. 

Hear Fred's story of transformation as he found his joy in Christ.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September -December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠https://omf.org/uk/resources/billions/

Over the nearly 90 years of the China Inland Mission's work in that country, through famine, war and disease, thousands of men and women poured out their lives to tell the Chinese people of the Saviour who loved them and had died for them.

We take a look in the archives to see what CIM was doing 100 years ago.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠https://omf.org/uk/resources/billions/

Pastor Roat leads Jesus Village Church in Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. A group of OMF workers started the church in 1998, but it is now thriving under Pastor Roat’s leadership. This is his story.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at https://omf.org/uk/resources/billions/

What does it mean to be involved in God's global mission? Who should be involved? Andrew Scott, President of OM USA, shared how his thinking on these questions was radically shaped by considering the role of those who's work takes them to new places, cultures and countries.

Hear all Andrew shared at Work+Go 2023 on their podcast.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Pastor Fred shares his story growing up in the Philippines, hearing about Jesus through OMF ministry, and now leading that ministry and overseeing the development of local leaders.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠⁠⁠.

James & Kirsty lead OMF's Returnee Focus ministry. We talked to them about the place of cities in this gospel-sharing opportunity.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Hear from Cambodian Pastor Roat about Jesus Village Church in Phnom Penh.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: ‘Imagining the Eternal City’.

Read more at ⁠⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠⁠.

Dr. Peter Rowan explores the city and a theme in Revelation and how it can inform mission practice today.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine September - December 2024: Imagining the Eternal City.

Read more at ⁠⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠⁠.

Helping people live out their discipleship in Christ creatively in their work each day.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine May - August 2023: ‘Along the Mekong’. Read more at ⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠.

OMF (UK) Archivist Marion Osgood reflects on the 50th anniversary of the deaths of OMF nurses Margaret Morgan and Minka Hanskamp in Thailand.

This is an audio recording from OMF (UK)'s Billions magazine May-August 2024.

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• See the rest of the content from this edition
• Subscribe to get the magazine by post or email
• Find out more about OMF (UK)

A look at key trends in China today can inform our prayers for the country and its people.

This is an audio recording from Billions magazine May-August 2024.

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• See content from the rest of this edition
• Subscribe to get the magazine by post or email

Guest Editor Sarah Hoskins interviewed David & Sue Pickard about their time together in leadership in OMF and the background to OMF's statement on women in leadership.

This is an audio recording from Billions magazine. ⁠

• Read the article here
• Find out more about the magazine and sign up to get a copy by email or post here
• ⁠Find more content from the January-April 2024 edition 'Women in God's Mission' here.

Guest Editor Sarah Hoskins reads her article 'Welcoming Women' introducing our January - April 2024 edition 'Women in God's Mission', looking at women in Luke's Gospel and in OMF today.

This is an audio recording from Billions magazine. Find out more about the magazine and sign up to get a copy by email or post here.

Find more content from the January-April 2024 edition.

Six ways to see God's kingdom come in the Mekong region.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine May - August 2023: ‘Along the Mekong’. Read more at ⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠.

Peter Rowan explains our role in the future of mission how trusting local agency helps to further the work of the Spirit of God.

Audio from OMF Billions Magazine May - August 2023: ‘Along the Mekong’. Read more at ⁠⁠billions.omf.org⁠⁠.